A ninja must see underneath the underneath

Chapter 28 - Black and blue

Naruto looked towards his two sensei's. Kakashi was standing on the left, looking as lazy and carefree as ever. Jiraiya stood on the right, his arms were crossed and the corners of his mouth were firmly pointing down.

Jiraiya had picked Kakashi and Naruto up in the morning to start training. Kakashi had extended a friendly 'Yo', which was countered with some inaudible but clearly unfriendly mumbling.

The glares Jiraiya had been throwing the Jonin hadn't exactly helped the whole situation. Kakashi got the message; Jiraiya was indeed pissed. But the Sharingan-wielder, being himself, acted as if he didn't even notice it, or as if he simply did not care. The whole situation had created a tension, which was now growing painfully clear.

"Alright Naruto," Jiraiya said breaking the awkward silence. "We are going to spar with you at the same time. Basically, I want you to maintain Sage Mode while fighting off the both of us. Try gathering natural energy every time the battle allows you the chance to do so. We will be simulating a real battle, so be sure not to lose focus. Under no circumstance will we, or at least I..." He said with a pointed glare towards Kakashi. "...be going easy on you. Got it?"

Naruto nodded with a serious look on his face. He had started gathering natural energy during Jiraiya's dialogue. He was able to gather quite a lot, quite fast, and he got better at it each time he practiced. After a few minutes, he switched into Sage Mode, creating an orange rim around his eyes. The blue color Kakashi loved so much now turned yellow.

Kakashi's Sharingan picked up on three chakra's now. Naruto's, Kurama's, and natural energy. The enhancement to the young man's strength and abilities proved to be impressive.

Suddenly, both Kakashi and Jiraiya shot forward. Kakashi threw three kunai so that Naruto would jump to the left, where Jiraiya was preparing to trap the blond in a swamp with the Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld technique. Naruto cursed as he felt his feet being sucked into the sticky ground. He ducked to avoid getting hit with Kakashi's kick towards his ribs, after which he summoned ten shadow clones. While the clones kept his senseis at bay, Naruto tried to escape the trap by using a Rasengan onto the ground. The explosion effectively pushed him upwards. As he hurdled through the air, he saw that his clones had been defeated. He quickly formed the hand signs for more shadow clones. He was planning on using them as a distraction so he could attack Kakashi in the back with a new technique he had perfected while training with Jiraiya. His plan was to catch Kakashi off guard.

He made it seem as if he and his clones attacked Kakashi head-on with the Rasengan technique, as he had done a few times in the past. While the distraction was set in motion, he used the Body Flicker Technique to appear five meters behind Kakashi's back. The Jonin caught on quickly as he heard Naruto yell "Rasenshuriken technique". He quickly turned around and managed to dodge the powerful attack at the very last moment. As it rushed over his head, he felt it cutting off the tops of his spiky hair.

"He could have hit me with that if he had aimed for my body instead of the top of my head..." Kakashi said as the realization hit him that Naruto was being 'careful' with his lover.

Kakashi upped his speed and attacked Naruto head-on with taijutsu techniques. The blond had become incredibly fast thanks to his Sage Mode. Kakashi on the other hand was able to keep up easily thanks to his Sharingan.

"What have I told you about going all out against me." He scolded Naruto while constantly blocking the blond's attacks. He grabbed the young shinobi's kicking foot and twisted it so he would be forced into a spinning motion, allowing him an opening.

"That Rasenshuriken could have destroyed you, I couldn't..." Naruto explained before he was interrupted by Kakashi's fist which landed straight in his gut.